Educational Science

The Sad Truth About Boy Scouts and Childhood Obesity (Op-Ed)

Dr. Mitchell Roslin is chief of obesity surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. He holds several patents for the treatment of obesity and designed a method for treating relapse after gastric bypass surgery. Roslin has expertise in laparoscopic obesity surgery, duodenal switch surgery and revisional bariatric surgery. He...

Trans Fat Isn't Evil, Ignorance Is (Op-Ed)

Dr. Mitchell Roslin is chief of obesity surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. He holds several patents for the treatment of obesity and designed a method for treating relapse after gastric bypass surgery. Roslin has expertise in laparoscopic obesity surgery, duodenal switch surgery and revisional bariatric surgery. He...

Freelance writer Marlene Cimons is a former Washington reporter for the Los Angeles Times who specializes in science and medicine. She writes regularly for the National Science Foundation, Climate Nexus, Microbe Magazine, and the Washington Post health section, from which this article is adapted. Cimons contributed this article to LiveScience's...

Can You Be Obese and 'Healthy'?

The idea that people can be obese and still be healthy is called into question by a new study, that finds that, at least over the long term, obesity itself may confer a small increased risk of death. In the study, people who were obese but did not have metabolic...

Diabetes Drug Won't Help Obese Kids Keep Off Weight

Few children who become obese are able to lose and keep off weight with diet and exercise alone, leading some doctors to prescribe drugs, such as the diabetes drug metformin, to treat childhood obesity. However, a new study suggests that metformin may not help kids and teens without diabetes lose...

How Counties Rank in Obesity and Physical Fitness Rates (Infographic)

A 2011 study conducted by the University of Washington counted the percentage of obese and physically active people in each U.S. county. Obesity has increased steadily over the past 20 years, but physical activity is also on the rise. Which counties were the most and least active for men in...

Why Childhood Obesity Drop May Herald a Change of Habit (Op-Ed)

Katherine Tallmadge, M.A.,R.D., is a registered dietitian, author of Diet Simple: 195 Mental Tricks, Substitutions, Habits & Inspirations (LifeLine Press, 2011) and a frequent national commentator on nutrition topics. Tallmadge contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Recently, I was asked by the newly launched On Background...

What the Average American Man Looks Like

The average 30- to 39-year-old American man is 5 foot 9 inches, has a 39-inch waist, and a body mass index (BMI) of 29, just shy of obesity, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's anthropometric data. And this is what that man looks like: Artist Nickolay Lamm...

Weight at Age 5 Predicts Obesity Risk in Middle School

Kids who are overweight in kindergarten often become obese by the time they're in middle school, a new study finds. In the study, children who were overweight at age 5 were four times more likely than normal-weight children to become obese by age 14. In fact, nearly half of the...

Can You Catch Obesity With That Head Cold?

Freelance writer Marlene Cimons is a former Washington reporter for the Los Angeles Times who specializes in science and medicine. She writes regularly for the National Science Foundation, Climate Nexus, Microbe Magazine, and the Washington Post health section, from which this article is adapted. Cimons contributed this article to LiveScience's...